Sulphur and saltpeter had been in full swing to start mining, and it was learned from Zou County Lingna that the rugby-shaped pit had been dug out for many years. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

In order not to collapse the mountain and provide a place to live, they began to excavate in an orderly manner, and each cave in the rock wall was evenly spaced, for the sake of good appearance and to put the whole mountain in a balance point that would not collapse.

The first part of each cave on the rock wall was used for human habitation, and then the way into it was the passage that was left behind in the excavation of sulphur and saltpeter.

Under the leadership of Zou County's order, Ye Cheng and the others walked into the passage and kept walking inside.

The passage is dimly lit, and only torches stuck in the rock wall are used to dispel the darkness. The passage is large enough to accommodate three people advancing side by side at the same time. Before I reached the end, I saw some people walking past me with baskets on their backs, walking in the opposite direction.

The basket contained yellow stones, which were brimstone.

The people had to carry these baskets to the exit, the entrance to the cave outside the mountain, where they could be transported to the bottom of the mountain on wooden shelves.

These baskets look like they weigh a hundred pounds, and it takes time and effort to carry such a heavy thing down the mountain alone.

As we advanced through the passage for a while, the sound of digging began to be heard in front of me.

At the end of the passage, I saw two men covering their mouths and noses with cloths, standing on the left and right, and smashing with iron hoes on the rock wall at the end.

Yellow stones fell one by one, and then one man pulled them out with a wooden rake, and another man shoveled them into a basket and handed them out on the back of the other men.

With the cooperation of four or five people, it takes about half an hour to fill a basket, which is still slow, but at the same time, there are many people excavating, so the number is also considerable.

Zou Xianling stood in front of Ye Cheng and the others, facing the end of the passage, his right hand gently combed his long white beard, and said lightly, "General Lai, now that sulfur and saltpeter have been mined normally, I think you can go and see the ten boxes of gold first."

Lai Zhongjin was behind Zou Xianling, he didn't reply for a long time, and his eyes became a little sharp. It's not that he doesn't want to give, it's just that he has just started mining, and Zou County's order mentioned money, which surprised him.

Even Ye Cheng, who was standing at the back, was very surprised.

Now that there is a war on the border, everyone should serve the country loyally, but Zou Xianling's current behavior makes people think that he only has money in front of him and doesn't care about what happens at the border.

After not hearing a reply for a long time, Zou Xianling turned around and saw Lai Zhongjin's sharp eyes, panicked, and leaned back slightly. He guessed what Lai Zhongjin was thinking, and quickly explained, "General Lai, please don't get me wrong, I mentioned the gold so quickly because many people in the county haven't eaten for several days, so I want to use the gold to buy them something to eat."

"The gold is outside" Lai Zhongjin retracted his sharp eyes, knowing that it was for the people, and he had no reason to be angry.

Everyone walked back again, but did not turn back into the big pit, but walked out of a hole in the passage, and out of the hole was the mountain road around the mountain.

Standing on the mountain road around the mountain, I saw people passing through these holes to transport sulfur and saltpeter, and then using wooden shelves built on the mountain wall to transport them to the foot of the mountain.

As far as the eye could see, within Ye Cheng's line of sight, there were four or five holes with baskets filled with yellow stones hanging on wooden shelves, sliding along the central rope.

There are two ropes on each basket with hooks on the ropes.

One of the hooks is hung on the center rope first, and after sliding for three or four meters, you have to change to another hook to hook the other rope to continue sliding down.

This tedious work had to be done by two men, so two men stood facing each other at the skeleton points of the wooden frames.

With everyone's cooperation, baskets of sulfur were slowly transported down the mountain.

"General Lai, let's continue to walk up the mountain," Zou Xianling said lightly, and then turned around and walked up the mountain.

It was not very far from where they had parked just now, and after two turns on the mountain road around the mountain, they saw the shadow of the carriage.

Lai Zhongjin opened the big box on the last car and said with a serious expression: "Now all this gold is yours." Because of the tense situation on the southwest border, we can't wait for you to hollow out all the brimstone and saltpeter, and when we have ten carts of sulfur and ten loads of saltpeter, we will go."

"The border matter is really important, and I will order people to dig around the clock. General Lai rest assured, when you go to the border, saltpeter and sulfur will be digging all the time, and then I will order someone to send it to the border to help you repel the enemy army of Xiaoluan," Zou Xianling said, his face suddenly became solemn, and he closed the box.

This makes everyone very strange, and they all look at Zou County's order.

"Zou County Order, ...... are you?" Lai Zhongjin asked strangely.

Zou Xianling raised his head and said with a slight smile, "General Lai, we don't have so much gold for our use, as long as we leave five boxes for us." Money is needed to fight on the border, so please take it away from General Lai, this should be a little bit of Laiyuan County's efforts."

"If that's the case, then I'll take it away" Lai Zhongjin did not refuse, he knew that the soldiers also had families to support, and military salaries were their only income, so the gold could just be used as food and pay to the soldiers.

With food and wages to send to the family, the family members can be fed and clothed, and the soldiers can fight bloody battles on the front line with peace of mind.

"Come on, leave the five big boxes in front of you, and pull the rest down the mountain," Lai Zhongjin shouted.

It was indeed difficult to make the carriage turn around on this narrow mountain road, and the white-robed soldiers had to first take the large box from the carriage, then untie the horse to the lower end, and tie the horse to the rope after the carriage had turned its head.

This is very tedious and time-consuming.

Several soldiers jumped into the carriage and prepared to untie the ropes that bound the large boxes.

At this time, Zou Xianling said, "You don't have to be so troublesome, there is an open space at the top of the mountain, where the carriage can turn around"

After a few laps around the mountain road, six horse-drawn carriages came to a clearing at the top of the mountain, overgrown with weeds, which had not been taken care of for a long time, and these weeds were as tall as a teenager, and the sound of "Titicaca" could be heard when the carriage ran over.

It turned out that the sound was made by the wheels of the car running over the stones and the gaps between the stones.

Weeds grow out of the crevices of the masonry because they are so dense that you can't see the masonry tiled on the ground without looking closely.

The six carriages turned around and headed at the intersection of Huanshan Mountain Road. Five large boxes were taken down from the carriage, and the Zou County Order would have people come up to get them, and they only needed to go down the mountain.